IF CHRIST BE NOT RISEN, What Then

1 Corinthians 15:12-17 Now if Christ be preached that He rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: and if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ: whom He raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.

The lesson text reveals one more, of many, misunderstandings the Christians at Corinth had about the will of God, in establishing His plan of eternal salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ. Resurrection of the dead is a necessary tenet in understanding, accepting, and believing God's plan of salvation. In order for him to convince those to whom he is writing this letter, Paul needed to refute, or disprove the false teaching of some among the church at Corinth that say there is no resurrection of the dead. This statement of fact was probably brought to Paul's attention either by them, which are of the house of Chloe (1 Cor. 1:11), or as a question posed to him in a letter concerning the things whereof ye wrote to me (1 Cor. 7:1). Doubt of the resurrection of Jesus, or of resurrection in its entirety, was probably the result of false teachers that had spread this error through the influence of paganist humanism or Jewish Sadduceeism. In either, there was a false conception or total rejection of life after death.

Even as the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ was conceded by the Christians at Corinth, there still seemed to be doubt of a universal resurrection due to false teaching, or possibly due to the fact that they were still unlearned and considered to be "babes in Christ" (1 Cor. 3:1-3), who lacked sufficient knowledge of God's complete plan of salvation. In the first eleven verses of this chapter, Paul proved the resurrection of Jesus - how He was crucified on the cross of Calvary, was buried and sealed in a tomb, and how Jesus, miraculously came out of His tomb alive.

As proof, Paul sufficiently cites many that had seen, talked to, and had even eaten with Jesus after His resurrection. Among whom were all of the apostles, including Paul, himself, and of a great number, some of whom were, at that time, still alive and could attest to Jesus' resurrection. Had only Paul saw Jesus alive, or had only Jesus' apostles witnessed Him after his death on the cross, there could have been doubt. But Christ, having been seen alive by hundreds of people - people not having the close relationship with Jesus, as did the apostles, certainly removed all doubt that Jesus had, indeed, conquered death by His resurrection.

Paul now proceeded to prove that the resurrection of Jesus assured the universal resurrection of all people of the earth. If there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen (Vs. 13). The argument is that if a person, once dead, cannot be raised, as these false teachers say, then Christ could not have risen from His death. And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain (Vs. 14). If we, that is Paul, other apostles, and other inspired preachers of the word of God, have preached false doctrine, and you (the Christians which make up the church Corinth) have believed it, then what they taught, as well as what they believed, resulted in a faith that is vain, having no eternal benefit. If that were the case, then Paul, and other preachers of the gospel of Christ would be false witnesses of God, because they taught that God had raised up Christ, and if the dead rise not, then Christ, Himself, was notraised up (Vss. 15,16).

This, then, is the final conclusion to Paul's argument. And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain, and ye are yet in your sins (Vs. 17). If this were so, then Jesus Christ is not the Messiah, the Savior of the world. Jesus would then be only another dead man - one that could not even save Himself. Assuredly, if this were the case, that Jesus could not pardon the sins of others, it would mean that all fallen asleep in Christ are perished (Vs. 18). But thanks be to God, Christ is risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive (Vss. 21-22). The first fruits of the harvest were waved before the Lord as a pledge of the harvest to come (Lev. 23:10-16). This same pledge we have in the resurrected Christ. At the harvest, Judgment Day, all in Christ shall be made alive, and as Christ arose from His tomb, so will all people of the world, whom had died, come forth from the grave, and God will receive His faithful children into His heavenly abode.